


can't imagine there's a way to get closer than this

by geewhizmo



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Aromantic Character, Asexual Character, Best Friends, Fluff, Gen, Las Vegas Wedding, M/M, No romo, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Platonic Life Partners
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-02
Updated: 2017-07-02
Packaged: 2018-11-21 11:19:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11356428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/geewhizmo/pseuds/geewhizmo
Summary: “We’re married,” Niall says. His eyes are so bright right now that Louis doubts there’s a building in this city that could outshine him.“I know.” Louis reaches out for a fist bump, and their rings clink together. “It’s awesome.”Or,A canon au where Niall and Louis discover a fun way to celebrate their friendship while vacationing in Las Vegas, and the others are a little confused, at first.





	can't imagine there's a way to get closer than this

**Author's Note:**

  * For [firefall](https://archiveofourown.org/users/firefall/gifts).



> title from 'closer than this' by st. lucia
> 
> Dedicated to the real MVP <3  
> thank u so much to Eva for the beta & cheerleading, u were so amazing to work with! any errors still here are on me
> 
> Disclaimer: i am not affiliated with the boys or anyone even remotely connected to them in any way, nor do i profit a cent from this. long live the 4th wall, too.

*

 

“Hey!” Niall hip-checks the door open, and waltzes into the bathroom. Louis glances over his shoulder with one raised eyebrow.

“Listen Louis, I’ve got an idea,” Niall continues, holding up his phone. Then he pauses, as though only just realizing Louis was peeing. “Oh, did you want me to wait a sec?”

Louis shrugs, and zips up his fly. “Doesn’t matter, you’re already here.”

Niall sits down at the edge of the tub. “Alright, so - you know how we’re in Vegas?”

“Yes, Neil, that had somehow occurred to me.” Louis flushes the toilet and walks past Niall to the sink.

Niall must be really excited about whatever’s on his mind, because he doesn’t even make a face at the nickname.

“Louis… Would you like to get married?”

“Yes,” Louis replies, not even blinking at the question, because he would. Then he catches a glimpse of Niall’s face reflected in the mirror and turns around. “Oh. You mean like, us? Like, now?” They’ve talked about it before, when discussing the boundaries of their comfort zones with their bandmates as they came to terms with themselves. They both decided that they felt just dandy about the idea of getting married, so long as it wasn’t for any less-than-platonic reasons.

Niall nods. “I mean, there’s all the spousal benefits of course, and we could buy a place together if you wanted, and I mean… I can’t think of a better way to celebrate our friendship than vowing to be there for each other forever. And I just, I really love the idea of all that, and also you...”

Louis smiles so hard it hurts, and pulls Niall into a tight hug. His hands are still wet and soapy, and Niall eventually pushes him away with fond annoyance and points to the towel rack.

Louis snatches up the towel and races back to the hotel bedroom. He hurriedly dries his hands and snatches up a ring pop from the mixed bag of candy they bought in the hotel lobby. He turns around to holds it up in the air like a trophy.

“Damn, you beat me to it.” Niall’s certainly _trying_ his best to sound disappointed, but it’s pointless when he’s smiling as much as he is.

“You’re darn right I did.” Louis bends down on one knee and holds out the ring. “So Niall James Horan, will you do the honour of marrying me and promising to be my best friend forever? Officially, anyways.”

“Yeah,” Niall chuckles. His face is near glowing as he holds out his hand for Louis to slip the ring on. It’s a bit sticky of course, because Vegas is _hot_ , and also because the ring pop was stuck to a piece of liquorice.

Niall pulls Louis back up onto his feet and into a hug. It’s one of his best hugs, the kind that they’d bring up in interviews when they asked who was the best hugger. Louis’ been escorted places surrounded by bodyguards that loomed over everyone else, yet even that didn’t hold a candle to the security he felt when Niall held him like this.

Eventually, Niall pulls back and rummages through the bag of candy. He starts to take a knee, but then he winces and Louis reminds him the tradition is overrated and saturated with romantic connotations anyways. Niall hums in agreement and holds out the rest of the licorice.

“Marry me, Lou? I think it’s only fair after all, since I’m marrying you.”

“I think you’re right,” Louis says, and holds out his hand. Niall tries to wrap the licorice around his finger, although it’s so big that it winds up being more of a bracelet in the end.

There had been another ring pop in the bag, except Niall had already eaten it that morning. Which Louis thought was pretty fitting, and told Niall not to worry about it. They’d be getting proper matching bands later anyways.

“Got any plans tonight?”

“Hmmm…” Niall scrubs his chin as though deep in thought. “I’ll have to check my schedule, but I can probably squeeze you in somewhere, around 6:30 perhaps?” Louis pinches his side and he dances away. “At the chapel we passed down the street? You wear your nicest tux, and I’ll be the one with a red rose pinned to my lapel.”

“Don’t,” Louis snorts. “You’re making it sound all romantic.”

Niall makes a face like he’s trying to get a bad taste out of his mouth. “Yuck, yuck. Can’t have that now, can we?”

“No, definitely not.” Louis taps his nose. “Say, do you think there’s a flower that symbolizes friendship?”

“Ooh yeah! I bet there totally is.” Niall scoops up his phone from where he’d dropped it on the bed. “Here, I’ll text Harry.”

While they wait for Harry to respond, they start planning out the rest of their day. Louis gets out his laptop to start the pre-application process that’ll speed up getting their marriage license, and Niall leans over his shoulder to help.

They won’t be spending their honeymoon like most couples, as they’re both on the asexual spectrum as well, Niall a little moreso than Louis. It was kind of funny how that worked out, because Louis was a little more aromantic than Niall, too.

But they do want to do something special together. They decide to switch their booking to a honeymoon suite, because it has a jacuzzi hot tub, a big water bed, and complimentary champagne, so why wouldn’t they?

Niall’s phone pings just as they’ve finished their online registration.

“Harry says yellow roses.” His phone pings again. “He also wants to know why.”

Louis bites his lip. “How about we tell them later, after the ceremony? I just... I kind of want it to be an us-thing, y’know?”

“Yeah, totally. Me too. Probably best to break the news with a call anyways, not a text.”

“Yeah,” Louis agrees. He’s also pretty sure the lads will make a much bigger deal of it than he and Niall are, and he’d rather hold off on that for a little while yet.

They call in at the front desk and make the arrangements to switch their rooms over after they get back. Then they decide to pick out one of their favourite shirts for the other to wear. Niall gets Louis’ white tee with the words _Not Heartbroken_ written over the spot where his heart is. For Louis, Niall picks out a crisp maroon button up that he only just bought a couple weeks ago but has already decided is his new favourite shirt ever and he’s worn it almost every day since.

*

The brightness of the sun is nearly overwhelming when they step outside, even with their sunglasses and wide-brimmed hats tucked low over their faces for anonymity. They haven’t been spotted since before they left for their little vacation here, but they can never really get too comfortable anywhere, not with their faces.

They’ve gotten better at applying prosthetic makeup over the years, and even though Niall’s false nose and beard is a little uncomfortable in the heat, to say nothing of Louis’ wig and altered chin, it’s worth the added bit of privacy they provide.

The AC in the first jewelry store they stop at is probably the best thing about it. They agreed it’d be nice to get a matching set, without straying into anything that feels romantic.

There is one pair they feel drawn to at the second store, but after realizing it’s inlaid with diamonds they move onto the next place. After all the documentaries and articles about blood diamonds Niall’s seen and told Louis about, neither of them feel keen on getting any. The stones are a bit overrated anyways, and they start considering a plain band of gold or silver.

But they want something a little bit _more_ somehow, something that feels a little different. But by the time they reach the last jewelry shop on their list, they’ve nearly given up hope of finding it.

At the last shop they find a plain ring set that is personalized by lasering on any fingerprint of your choice. They look at each other and just _know_.

The rings comes in several different metals. They decide on platinum, in honour of their record sales with the band.

Niall leans close to Louis while the salesperson bustles about behind the counter to find their fingerprint kits. He thumbs the back of Louis’ wrist and whispers, “It’ll be like we’re with each other everywhere we go, no matter what.” Louis leans against his shoulder, and then blows a raspberry into his neck, because he’s a self proclaimed menace and can’t help himself.

As luck would have it, they happened to have rings that fit them perfectly without any resizing. But the process of engraving the rings still takes several hours to complete, and they go to one of the restaurants featured on _Diners, Drive-Ins, & Dives _for lunch while they wait. There’s a framed photo of Guy Fieri on the wall, and Louis makes Niall pose next to it with his sunglasses.

The desert sky is darkening to red now, but it’s all worth it for the little package (tied with a yellow bow at Louis’ request) they pick up from the jewelers on their way to the courthouse to get their marriage license. Niall takes a selfie of the two of them outside the shop with their rings, as he’s been doing all day.

“Gonna print these out and make a scrapbook eventually,” he mutters.

After that, there’s only one stop left to make on their way to the chapel. They had to take off their disguises before going into the courthouse, and there’s a slight breeze in the air that feels nice against their skin before they hop back into their rental car again. They pick up two yellow roses at a flower shop before continuing to the drive through chapel. Their minister, an older woman with greying hair and kind eyes, looks fairly ordinary, which Louis later jokes is probably a little abnormal for Vegas.

It’s exciting, the moments leading up to their ‘I do’s’ feels like standing at the top of a giant waterslide. There’s a minor mix up where they accidentally grabbed their own rings for the other, but then it’s done, and they drive out of the chapel a married pair.

They drive back to the hotel’s parking lot and stare at each other giddily for a few moments before breaking out into a fit of delighted giggles. They dash through the parking lot with their hands clutched together, swinging up and down so their new wedding bands glint in the lights.

The hotel staff have already transferred their things to the honeymoon suite, which is on the topmost floor. They take the elevator up, and Niall jokingly offers to carry Louis over the threshold when they reach their floor.

“Here, I’ve got a better idea.” Louis bends down and holds his arms out behind him until Niall gets the idea and hops up onto his back. “Got the keycard handy?” Niall nods, and Louis wraps his arms securely around Niall's thighs before galloping off down the hallway.

They somehow get through the door without falling over, and Louis flops onto the waterbed with Niall trapped under him. Niall tries to flail his way out from under Louis, but he’s no match for Louis’ deadweight.

“I feel like I’m on a bed of jello,” he grunts when Louis finally decides to roll over into the space next to him.

“Yeah, it does feel like jello,” Louis agrees with a wiggle.

“It’s weird,” Niall says. “Not sure I could sleep on something like this all the time.”

“I’m sure you’ll manage to survive tonight, for our marriage’s sake,” Louis chuckles, reaching out to flick Niall’s ear. Niall smiles, and rolls over to face him.

“We’re married,” he says. His eyes are so bright right now that Louis doubts there’s a building in this city that could outshine him.

“I know.” Louis reaches out for a fist bump, and their rings clink together. “It’s awesome.”

To celebrate their first night of being married, they decide to order in and watch a movie. Louis orders five different appetizer platters, and Niall takes on the task of selecting the movie.

“The best movie I can think of for us to watch tonight,” Niall announces eventually. “Is actually several movies. They’re a series, and I think we need to watch all of them together.”

“Yeah?” Louis asks. “And what series would that be?”

Niall smiles. “Fast & Furious, of course. Can’t think of a better way to celebrate us than by watching the most epic onscreen friendship there is. Also, the stunts are wicked.”

“Alright, I’m excited! I still haven’t seen all of them,” Louis admits. “But I hear the latest one is good enough to make you cry, yeah?”

“Well, Furious 7 is definitely intense like that, but also I have teared up during pretty much every one at some point, so...”

“Tissues are needed?”

“Definitely.”

The door knocks for room service during the opening titles of the first movie, and Niall opens it to reveal a young man with electric pink hair. He obviously recognizes them, because his eyes go wide and his face turns a brighter pink than his hair as soon as he spots them (and they haven’t even changed into their PJ’s yet).

He stares resolutely at the floor while he sets up a table next to the bed and starts to unload the trays.

“Hey, um…” Louis struggles to break the silence, which is getting close to awkward. “Are you by any chance a fan?”

The young man - Josh, according to his nametag - swallows heavily and nods. “Sorry, I- I don’t usually get starstruck, especially working here, but I am a little, I suppose. Well,” he glances down at his shoes again. “I mean, I am a fan, but I’m also not very tall either, so. A little.”

Niall chuckles. “Hey, listen, Josh.” Josh looks close to having an aneurism at the sound of Niall using his name. “We don’t really want anyone to know where we are, so would you mind not telling anyone you saw us here?”

“We can take pictures and sign whatever you want,” Louis offers, “So long as you promise not to show anyone until we’re gone.”

“Oh, gosh. I mean, you don’t have to bribe me to keep your secret safe, I honestly won’t tell anyone, but um…” He takes a deep breath, the kind someone would take before asking for a raise. “Do you think I could get a hug?”

“Absolutely you can have a hug! Bring it in!” After Josh recovers from the group hug, he asks if there’s anything else they need.

“Nah, I think we’re good. ‘Bout to settle in for a Fast & Furious marathon.”

“Oh, awesome!” Josh nods knowingly at the box of tissues pulled close on the night stand. “It gets me too. I promise not to tell anyone you’re here,” he says again, and they pinky promise on it.

“Anyways, I’m sorry for freaking out and everything... I’m just so happy to meet you.”

“You too,” Louis says, and tips him a fifty. “Have a good night, Josh.”

Josh beams, and waves at them as he backs out of the door. “Thank you! I hope you have a _great_ night! If there’s anything else you need, just ring!”

“Will do!” They promise, and then he’s gone.

“What a nice fellow,” Niall says, spreading the platters around him excitedly. “Reckon he’s our biggest fan?”

“Don’t be silly,” Louis scoffs, snuggling up beside him. “He can’t have been more than 5’5’’.”

*

They munch their way through the trays of food, and proceed to cuddle through the first 6 ½ movies.

Then Niall remembers the champagne, and promptly spills it all over himself when he tries to pour it. Louis starts cackling at his increasingly dismayed features, and nearly rolls off the bed. Niall huffs and pauses the movie, and pulls the pillowcase he was sitting on with him as he heads to the bathroom. Once Louis gets a hold of himself again, he follows.

Niall’s already laying in the bathtub, leaning back on his hands to let the rain setting on the shower head wash over him. Louis takes a seat on the edge of the tub.

“Hey,” he says. “You want me to do your hair?”

Niall tilts towards him in answer. Louis picks up the bottle of hotel shampoo, which has an image of a honeycomb on the label. It looks like honey too, all golden yellow and syrupy. Niall leans back against Louis’ legs, the water droplets from his hair soak into Louis’ sweats, but he doesn’t mind.

Niall hums an unfamiliar tune as Louis massages the shampoo into his scalp. When he’s finished rinsing it out again, Niall offers to return the favour. Louis slips into the tub next to him without bothering to take off his clothes first. The bathrobes in the hotel feel like being cradled by a cloud anyways.

They finish the rest of the movies in a nest of towels, which is incredibly cozy, even though Louis knows they’ll be in for some wicked bedhead by the morning.

*

The next day, after waking up in the late afternoon with their limbs all tangled up together, they call the other boys.

Louis speaks with Liam first, who seems surprised and a little confused about the news, but doesn’t hesitate to congratulate them once Louis assures him he’s being sincere.

“It just seemed like a natural extension of our friendship. And you know how Niall feels about tattoos, even matching ones, so wedding rings were like the perfect alternative for a kind of permanent friendship bracelet.”

He can hear Harry’s voice mumblingly asking questions in the background, and Liam’s voice quiets momentarily to relay the news. Harry’s loud “ _What?_ ” is perfectly clear.

Louis had expected the lads to have a little difficulty understanding it. But he did not expect Harry to sound near-tears when he spoke with him.

“Aw, c’mon Harry, there’s no need to get _that_ mushy about it.”

“But why- why didn’t you ask me?”

“Uh, what?” Louis must have misheard him.

“Why wouldn’t you ask _me_ to marry you?”

Louis huffs out a disbelieving snort. “That’s not funny, mate.”

“I’m not trying to be funny,” Harry sniffles. “I would’ve been happy to-”

“I’m serious, Harry,” Louis snaps. “You know I don’t like hearing about that crap, now stop messing around.”

“What- Oh! No, no, I wasn’t! I didn’t mean it like that at all, Louis, I’m sorry,” Harry babbles, and Louis waits for him to get to the point.

He remembers when the overreaction to his carrot joke was the most annoying rumour he had to deal with. Those were simpler times. Now, after all the harassment that’s been aimed at him and the people around him, even just seeing or hearing the “L” word makes him cringe a little. He’s constantly feeling like he’s reaching new tipping points all the time. When it was just him that was targeted, it wasn’t so bad, Louis could handle that sort of thing. It kind of came with the pop star territory anyways.

But when the people around him were harassed about it; El, his family, his friends, that’s where Louis really lost it. There were even random strangers out there who were somehow convinced that his own son, for reasons Louis couldn’t and probably never would be able to fathom, wasn’t real.

The fact that there wasn’t any truth to the whole conspiracy was almost besides the point. Even if they were in some secret relationship, Louis wasn’t even sure how half the things he heard could be even remotely related. And Louis knew that even if/when they let the public on about his marriage with Niall, even if he came out as bi aromantic, there’d still be people out there saying it wasn’t so, that it was all a lie, because he hadn’t married Harry.

Harry seems to reach the end of his ramblings and takes a deep breath.

“It’s fine Harry,” Louis mutters, forcing out a sigh and pinching his nose. “What were you trying to say?”

“Oh, um. I meant like, I wanted to marry you and Niall to _each other_. Like, I know I don’t have the license, but it doesn’t take long to get officiated online, and I was serious when I offered to do it when that fan proposed at our concert that time, so I would’ve thought you’d know I wouldn’t have hesitated to do it for you guys...”

“Oh.” Louis scrubs a hand over his face and lets his shoulders loosen again. “That’s… that’s awful sweet of you, Haz. But it was a bit of a spur of a moment thing, and we didn’t want to make a big deal about it and um... Look, I’m sorry for snapping at you just now.”

“It’s okay, I understand why you did. I should’ve worded it better from the start too.”

“Yeah, well…”

Niall squeezes his wrist, and holds out his phone with a questioning look on his face. ‘Wanna swap?’ he mouths.

‘One sec’, Louis mouths back. “Here, Niall wants to say hi too.”

“Alright,” Harry says. “Just, before you go… I am sorry for upsetting you. And I do want to congratulate you, I hope it was everything you wanted for your wedding. I only wish I could’ve been there for it, is all.”

“Thanks, Haz. Don’t worry, we’ll send you pics. Maybe you can give Niall a hand with making a scrapbook or something later.” Harry gasps excitedly, and Louis chuckles. “Anyways, here he is.”

Zayn’s voice greets him on Niall’s phone. “Hey bro, congrats! I wasn’t expecting to hear about you two getting hitched, but I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks, Z. I’m happy for us, too.”

“Yeah, I bet,” Zayn chuckles.

Louis sighs a little. “Harry was having a bit of a strop just now because we didn’t ask him to get officiated for us.”

“Ah. Sounds like Harry, alright. So, why didn’t you?”

“Honestly? It didn’t even occur to us. Like, we didn’t want to have a ‘proper’ wedding in a church with bells and family members crying around us and all that. For us, I can’t think of a better reason to get married than by promising to be best friends forever. We’re not getting married for any traditional, romantic reasons, so we didn’t want to do it all seriously the way people usually get married, y’know? It’s a fun thing for us, and part of that means we don’t want to get all dressed up or anything. We just wanted it to be a nice, casual thing for ourselves.”

“That makes sense,” Zayn says, and then there's a beat. “You want me to have a talk with Harry if he’s still not getting it? Or Liam?”

“Nah, it’s not like that. I think we’ll be good. Thanks though.” Harry had actually been one of the hardest people to explain their aromanticism to, though not for lack of willingness to understand on Harry’s part. It was just tricky for someone who fell in love so much to wrap his head around the idea that Niall and Louis never did or even wanted to, even though they were so full of love and affection generally. The ace thing had been a lot easier. Sexual attraction was just easier to define, and there are still times where Louis finds himself bewildered about what on earth romance even entailed.

Zayn had since taken it upon himself to read up every book and article he could find about aromanticism and asexuality until he could’ve probably taught a seminar on the topics. It was nice having him offer to step in to educate other people if Niall or Louis were ever feeling too emotionally drained about it. Harry and Liam would also jump in to defend them without hesitation, they knew, even if they still seemed a little lost about the way Niall and Louis felt sometimes.

They chat a little while longer, and then they put everyone on speaker phone to say goodbye. Niall’s stomach is gurgling a little now, and Louis rolls over to lay across his belly.

“Hey hubs,” Louis says, sneaking in for a nipple twist while Niall’s distracted by the nickname. He makes a face.

“I don’t like the sound of that one very much.”

“Hubbo?” Louis tries. “My little bee vomit? Glucose biscuit? Affectionate rabbit?” Niall snorts. “How do married people do nicknames, again?”

“No idea, but I think you’re getting there.” His stomach grumbles again and he looks pointedly up at Louis. “You wanna eat here or go out somewhere?”

“Mmm, out,” Louis decides. “We’ll do a quick take out thing, I actually have a surprise for you. Bit of a wedding gift, you might say.”

“Aw, Louis.” Niall wraps his arms around him, squeezing Louis against his chest. “I’ve got something for you too, but it isn’t finished yet so you’ll have to wait.”

After breakfast from a highly rated family-type restaurant, Louis insists on Niall covering his eyes on their way to their next destination. Traffic is heavy, but they finally reach it. Niall dutifully keeps his eyes closed as Louis slings an arm around him and leads him over the curb and up the walkway. Then he’s silently purchasing their tickets, and guiding Niall to their seats towards the mid-back where they have a great view and can still keep hidden in the darkness in case someone else comes in. Louis managed to work out a deal with the theatre for a private showing while they tested out their new screen, but it was force of habit to take extra precautions.

“Wow,” Niall says, blinking around at his new surroundings. “I didn’t trip or bump into anything once! You ever consider a career in being a seeing eye dog?”

Louis slings an arm around Niall’s neck. “Nah, I think I’ll wait and see if this whole singing gig pays off.”

“You can sing?” Niall asks with false surprise. “Hey, me too. We should start a band.”

Louis chuckles. Then the surround sound starts up, and Louis remembers to pass Niall his 3-D glasses.

There are two oceanic films showing at the IMAX theatre, and Niall gasps when the opening titles start. He’s often told Louis about how much he loves the ocean, but he’s never been able to do anything beyond basic surface swimming in it because the scuba diving equipment sets off his claustrophobia too much. Now, he can feel like he’s exploring all of it without ever having to think about his breathing.

The first movie is more of a general exploration of ocean life set to soft music. The second focuses heavily on sea turtles, and Niall turns to Louis with tears in his eyes at one point and kisses his forehead. He’s always had a bit of a soft spot for turtles, and Louis can certainly start to see why after watching the movie. They’re both long movies, but Louis’ pretty sure he could sit there and bask in them forever.

Niall clings to him when they leave the theatre, even though he doesn’t have to cover his eyes anymore.

“That was so good, Lou,” he murmurs in the car. “Thank you so much.”

“‘Course, Niall.” He squeezes his hand over the gearshift. “I’m glad you enjoyed it.” He doesn’t say anything else for the rest of the drive, just lets Niall stay in his watery headspace a bit longer.

When they’re back at the hotel, Niall asks if Louis wants to try out the jacuzzi for a bit.

“I want to work on your wedding present for a while,” he says. “And it’s got to be a surprise, so no peeking.”

“Alright, alright, alright,” Louis breaks into the _Hey Yah!_ chorus, and sings the rest of the song on his way to the bathroom. He takes his phone with him too, and decides to have a chat with his family. And El, too. She was the first person he ever opened up to about the ways he felt love. She helped him figure out the words to describe himself before he even told his bandmates. Louis always felt deeply comfortable around her, even when they were dating, which wasn’t a comfortable thing for him generally.

She looks sleepy, but happy over facetime, and doesn’t seem to mind being called so late in her timezone, aside from a bit of teasing.

“So what’s this exciting news, then?” Louis wiggles his hand in front of the camera, and Eleanor squawks excitedly. “Oh my gosh! You married Niall?”

“How did you know?”

“Well, who else would you marry?” She leans back against her pillow and shakes her head fondly. “Wow, Lou. That’s so neat, I’m really happy for you guys.”

They catch up on what else has been going on in their lives lately, and Louis gives her a small tour of the fancy bathroom from his viewpoint in the jacuzzi.

“I’ll call you back later if you want to see the rest of it? I just can’t go out in the main room right now, cos Niall’s working on my wedding gift and I’m not allowed to know what it is yet.”

“That’s sweet. Hey, let me know next time you’re in my neighborhood, and I’ll have something figured out for you, too.”

“Aw El, you don’t have to...”

“Well, too bad, I want to. It’s not every day my best boy marries his best boy.” She yawns for the second time in as many minutes, and Louis tells her to go to sleep.

His skin’s all wrinkly like a raisin when Niall calls him to come back to the main room again. His laptop’s out on the bed with his headphones plugged into it, and he’s holding something behind his back.

But before he has a chance to show Louis, there’s a knock at the door.

“Did you order something?”

Niall shakes his head. Louis frowns and crosses the room, drawing his bathrobe tightly around him. He can hear hushed whispers on the other side of the door, and a jolt of apprehension goes through him. Paparazzi?

Then he recognizes one of the voices, and pulls the door open with a sigh of relief.

“What are you lot doing here?” Liam, Zayn, and Harry spill through the doorway and immediately start pulling off their disguises.

“Surprise!” Liam says, throwing up his arms. “We wanted to come see our married boys.”

Louis grins, and opens his arms for a big hug that lifts him slightly off the ground. Niall comes to join him, and receives the same treatment.

“We also wanted to show you something.” Harry’s bouncing around on the balls of his feet.

“Is now a good time?” Zayn asks.

Louis glances at Niall, who’s tucked Louis’ present away again. He nods, so Louis knows it’s okay. “Sure,” he says.

Liam gestures over his shoulder. “We’ve got a car, and we’re not _exactly_ parked super duper legally, so let’s go.”

Louis throws on some clothes, and they slip out through the hallways. There’s no casino at the hotel, so most people are out this time of night. They do run into Josh, Harry actually runs _directly_ into him, and the poor guy nearly falls over when he sees who he’s trying to apologize to. After he’s gotten over his shock, Josh leads them to a side door and uses his key card so they have a better chance of sneaking out to their car without being seen.

“Thanks, Josh,” Niall calls back over his shoulder. “You’re the best!”

“So are you!”

It’s darker now, as dark as Las Vegas can be anyways, and the cover of night helps them feel a little better as they pile into the car.

They drive for a little while until they reach a place belonging to one of Harry’s friends. The boys lead Niall and Louis over to a garage, where Harry reveals his classic red convertible.

“Ta-da! It may be too late to marry you guys, but I can give you a car! _Lend_ ,” he amends quickly, eyes going comically wide for a moment, “I can _lend_ you a car. This is one of my very favourites, and you have to take good care of her.”

“Okay,” Louis says, “But why-”

“We’re getting to that,“ Liam says. “Now, I know I can’t top a car, but I got you a really good GPS.” He beckons towards the little box affixed to the dashboard. “I tested it out and everything so I know it won’t let you down!”

“That sounds great, but why would-”

“Getting there!” Zayn says, and pulls out a package from his coat. “Here, open this and you can stop asking.”

They tear open the package to reveal a map. They unfold it and find it it’s all marked up, with dotted lines in marker and certain locations circled. There’s also asterisks leading to noteworthy facts about certain ones on the back, along with Zayn’s squiggly illustrations.

“What’s all this for?” Louis asks, even though he’s got a pretty good idea.

“It’s for your honeymoon,” Liam says.

“Or whatever you want to call it,” Harry adds.

Zayn nods. “We planned a road trip across the country for you as like, a late wedding present from all us. Got together pretty much as soon as you hung up to figure it out.”

“Aw, boys.” Louis holds out his arms for a hug, and he doesn’t have to look to know Niall’s gone all soft eyed too. “Thank you so much,” Louis says, trying not to breathe too much into the space between Zayn’s gelled up hair and Harry’s armpit, for obvious reasons.

“Here,” Harry says when they pull apart, moving around to hold open one of the doors. “Try sitting in it for a bit!”

Niall and Louis slide into the car. It smells vaguely of citrus, like most things Harry owns. But it’s nice, feels familiar and new all at once.

“Very nice,” Louis says, and peers over his seat in the back. He catches Niall’s eyes over the armrest.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“I don’t know,” Niall says. “But yes.”

“There’s a good amount of room in the back, isn’t there?”

Niall nods slowly. “Could easily fit a couple other people in there.”

“Easily,” Louis agrees. “Could even fit three, couldn’t you?”

“Definitely.”

Louis leans out the window and gestures to the others, who’ve backed off a few feet. “C’mere lads. You too, Liam.”

Liam scowls.

“Well?” Harry asks, looking for all the world like a child trying desperately to please their parents with a messy, hand-drawn card. “How do you like it?”

“We love it,” Niall says. “How soon can we leave?”

“Pretty much whenever.” Zayn scratches his head. “I don’t think anything on your map has a time limit.”

“That sounds great! Listen, um. We’ve been thinking, and we were just wondering if perhaps you’d like to join us for a renewal of our vows? And if Harry would be interested in doing the honours?”

Harry nearly falls over. “Yes, I would! Of course I would!” He looks a split-second away from dashing off to get ordained right at that moment, and Niall holds up a hand.

“Not right now,” he says. “We were thinking maybe somewhere along the road trip?”

“Did you want us to meet you there?” Liam asks. “Like, you could call us when you find a good spot and we could catch a plane in, or-”

“No, you silly billies. We’d like you to come with us.”

“But... it’s your honeymoon, shouldn’t it be about you?”

“Well, it should be something special that makes us feel happy, and I can’t think of anything better than spending time with you lot, just so long as you keep in mind that we’re in charge of the whole thing.”

“Yeah, of course.” Liam nods seriously. “Can you just give us sometime to make some calls and figure things out?”

“For sure. We still have another night booked at the hotel, if you wanna stay there with us?”

“I only brought a toothbrush,” Harry admits, giggling. “But we can always buy whatever else we need along the way. I’m in.”

“I do have to make some calls, as well,” Zayn says. “But I’m in, too."

*

Later that night, after the others have all drifted off to sleep, Niall brings Louis his wedding gift. It’s wrapped in plain brown paper with a gold ribbon. Louis carefully peels them away to reveal a CD.

“It’s a mixtape,” Niall says, eyes in his lap like he’s nervous. “It’s a bit eclectic I suppose, but it’s mostly about loving someone, only not in a romantic or sexual way…”

Louis’ eyes widen and he stares at the CD clutched in his hands. No one’s ever made him a mixtape before, no one. He’s a little awed, and very, very touched.

Niall misinterprets his silence, and coughs self consciously, looking away.

“Sorry... I know it’s really cheesy and um, if you don’t want it I can figure out something else-”

“Shh, what are you talking about? Niall, I love it! Yeah, it’s cheesy but I happen to like cheese quite a lot. And, y’know, you.”

“Well, in that case… Would it brie okay if I kissed you right now?”

It takes every ounce of Louis’ willpower not to shove Niall off the bed, and he says so. Niall starts laughing.

“Seriously, mate,” Louis says, folding his arms as he bites back a smile. “I’m quite feta up with you.”

Niall’s laughter turns into breathless wheezing, and he falls off the bed of his own accord.

Louis tuts, and peers over the side. Niall’s laying on the floor now and still laughing, clutching his belly.

“You’re such a dork,” Louis says, beaming far too much to try holding back now. He slides off the bed to sit beside Niall, and prod him in the belly. “I can’t believe I married you.”

“Aw, Louis.” Niall finally gets a hold of himself and tilts his head backwards to look up at him. “But if you hadn’t then I’d just be forever provolone.”

Niall’s already on the floor, so there’s not much else for Louis to do except tickle him. He starts at Niall’s ribs, working his way up to his armpits, and over his shoulders until he reaches his chin. Niall giggles and tries to wriggle away, but Louis gets a hold of him and wrestles him over into his lap.

Niall’s hair is ticklish against Louis’ knees, but Louis doesn’t mind. He gives up tickling in favour of poking Niall on the tip of his nose. Niall sticks out his tongue and accidentally licks Louis’ hand.

“Blech,” he says.

Louis snorts and squishes Niall’s cheeks together. “What did you do that for, silly?”

“I don’t know, but I wish I hadn’t. Skin tastes gross.”

“Yeah, it does.” Niall’s still wrinkling his nose. “Do you still want to kiss me?”

“Oh, yeah. Do you?”

“Yes, but only if you lay off the puns. At least for tonight.”

“Done.” Niall crosses his heart, and pushes himself up onto his knees.

It’s hard for Louis to pin down in words what makes their kisses platonic, even though their lips touch. He’s had kisses before that weren’t, from when he was younger, before the band, and didn’t understand himself well enough to know not to date. The whole situation of going out with someone like that made him uncomfortable, but he’s since found he doesn’t actually mind kisses themselves.

When Niall kisses him, it doesn’t feel like time slows to a standstill, doesn’t feel like the world stops turning until they pull apart. That’s how people usually described being in love to Louis.

Some moments with Niall are softer than others, but never in that dramatic Hollywood fashion where Louis suddenly realizes he’s The One or whatever. Kissing him is nice, and makes Louis feel happy, a feeling which is very much mutual.

Louis smiles into the kiss. Niall’s grinning too when he pulls back. They never kiss for very long. Even though Louis likes kissing well enough, they both prefer longer hugs or even just cuddles when they’re feeling exceptionally tactile with each other. Long kisses are always awkward, Louis’ found, even when people are dating.

They shuffle around on the bed until they’re lying next to each other. Louis reaches out to boop Niall on the nose. Niall makes a face at him, and Louis makes one back.

Niall reaches out to hold Louis’ hand between them, pressing his thumb against his fingerprint around Louis’ ring.

He drops his voice to a whisper in the space between them. “Do you think we should tell Harry we’d like to get re-married at an amusement park?”

“Nah,” Louis says. He can’t _wait_ to see Harry’s face when they lead him to the bumper cars to perform the ceremony. “He’ll figure it out.”

*

**Author's Note:**

> hey firefall! :3 i was v excited to get u as my giftee cos i think ur the bestest, and i'm sorry that this ended up being so wee, buut! to make up for that, i also made u niall's mix for louis, which can be found [here](http://sleepymouses.tumblr.com/post/162522779320/i-love-you-noromo-a-mix-of-acearo-love-songs)
> 
> (also, [this](http://www.andrewenglish.com/platinum-bands) is how i pictured their rings)
> 
> note: i am on the ace/aro spectrums myself, and while neither niall nor louis here are intended to represent everyone with whom they share an identity, if if there's anything misrepresentative about those things here, lmk


End file.
